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Sporting KC earns three points in Houston

“Probably the best week ever” – Joveljic

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2 weeks ago

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Dejan Jovelic scored a brace | Credit: Thad Bell

Sporting Kansas City has been in need of a win and they earned it Saturday on the road when they beat the Houston Dynamo 3-1. Sporting KC star striker Dejan Joveljic scored a brace and newcomer Santiago Munoz notched his first for SKC. It was the fourth win for Sporting KC (second on the road) and advanced them to a 4-8-4 record.  Sporting KC is 4-3-3 since Kerry Zavagnin assumed the interim head coach role.

Coach Zavagnin inserted Joaquin Fernandez for the injured Robert Voloder. Both outside backs were swapped as starters and subs with Khiry Shelton and Logan Ndenbe getting the start with Andrew Brody and Tim Leibold eventually replacing them in this match.  Erik Thommy started and Shapi Suleymanov was the replacement this go around.

Sporting KC has had a penchant for giving up bangers in recent games. The Dynamo followed that tradition. SKC came out a little slow again and Houston looked like they were going to continue their hot streak. Ondrej Lingr fought to keep possession in the corner before dribbling toward Sporting KC’s box. He slid a pass to Sebastian Kowalczyk who curled a goal of the week candidate around John Pulskamp and into the far corner. With Houston taking the early lead in the 13th minute, Sporting KC needed to make sure the game did not get out of hand.

“I think we were undone in the first half once again,” Zavagnin explained. ”  I think New England got the better of us last week and certainly in the first 15-20 minutes Houston did the same thing to us. We were slow out of the gate, but credit to Houston. They had come off two wins and they were coming back home. They were a house on fire. We went down early and we were trying to find ourselves within the game. I think both last week and this week it was really our defensive organization.”

SKC’s star striker leveled the game right before the half.  Shelton’s cross was poorly cleared by Houston, and the ball deflected to the top of the box. Joveljic had made a run past that point but was able to come back and gather the ball. A quick touch and a shot made it 1-1 as the teams went to the locker room.

With as many crazy and spectacular goals that have gone against Kansas City recently, it was time to get a little of that luck on the Sporting KC side. Zorhan Bassong took a corner kick for SKC. Rookie defender Jansen Miller read the ball well and connected for a strong header. Unfortunately for Miller, the ball bounced off the crossbar. To SKC’s good fortune, Joveljic was in the right place to pounce and knock in his second straight goal. “Sometimes you need to close your eyes and do a bicycle kick, and then maybe you’ll score,” Joveljic told the media. “I was lucky enough this time and hopefully many more times again.”

With the Dynamo pressuring SKC, Zavagnin could have gone purely defensive. He could have, but didn’t. He subbed out Joveljic and brought in Santiago Munoz in the 79th minute. Eight minutes later, Daniel Salloi chased down a ball that had been sent long on SKC’s left. The Hungarian Homegrown pulled ball back, picked out Santiago for the pass. Santiago one time redirected it into goal to give the visitors a 3-1 lead. It was Munoz’ first goal for his new team.

“It was a tough moment,” Munoz explained. “In that moment, we needed to keep the score up so he (coach) just told me to get into the defensive part and when we get the ball, to be in position and try to do something forward. That’s what I did and I helped defensively. That counter attack came that I was able to score for the team.”

A great week for Dejan

It was a good result for Sporting KC of course, a road win, three points, a win not matter where. The team was not perfect but it looked like it is growing and getting better. Bt it wasa great week for Joveljic.

“Probably the best week ever. One day before my wife delivered — actually a few hours before my wife delivered — we played against New England and I scored and we took one point, which is great after (going) 2-0 down. This game on the road in a very tough place to play — I hate this place to be honest — so it’s a huge three points. Now we go to LA and then we play three games at home. It’s going to be hard, but we need to get points to be in the race for a playoff spot.”

 

 

Sporting Kansas City: John Pulskamp; Khiry Shelton (Andrew Brody 46′), Jansen Miller, Joaquin Fernandez, Logan Ndenbe (Tim Leibold 63′); Jacob Bartlett, Manu Garcia (Memo Rodriguez 90′), Zorhan Bassong; Erik Thommy (C) (Shapi Suleymanov 63′), Dejan Joveljic (Santiago Munoz 79′), Daniel Salloi

Subs Not Used: Ryan Schewe, Ian James, Stephen Afrifa, Mason Toye

Houston Dynamo FC: Jonathan Bond; Griffin Dorsey, Femi Awodesu, Pablo Ortiz (Franco Escobar 81′), Felipe Andrade; Artur (C) (Lawrence Ennali 82′), Brooklyn Raines (Junior Urso 53′); Sebastian Kowalczyk (Duane Holmes 79′), Ondrej Lingr (Amine Bassi 53′), Jack McGlynn; Ezequiel Ponce

Subs Not Used: Jimmy Maurer, Ethan Bartlow, Nico Lodeiro, Gabe Segal

Scoring Summary:
HOU — Sebastian Kowalczyk 1 (Ondrej Lingr 2) 13′
SKC — Dejan Joveljic 8 (unassisted) 45+3′
SKC — Dejan Joveljic 9 (unassisted) 52′
SKC — Santiago Munoz 1 (Daniel Salloi 4, Zorhan Bassong 2) 88′

Misconduct Summary:
HOU — Brooklyn Raines (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 45+1′
SKC — Zorhan Bassong (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 76′
SKC — Daniel Salloi (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 82′
HOU — Griffin Dorsey (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 84′
HOU — Felipe Andrade (yellow card; unsporting behavior) 86′

STAT SKC HOU
Shots 12 22
Shots on Goal 6 9
Saves 8 3
Fouls 8 14
Offsides 0 0
Corner Kicks 7 6

Referee: Jair Marrufo
Assistant Referee: Adam Garner
Assistant Referee: Chris Wattam
Fourth Official: Cristian Campo Hernandez
VAR: Sorin Stoica
AVAR: Jose Da Silva

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KCOutsider

I’ve been keeping SKC at arm’s length this season, both for obvious reasons, but also because life has been especially busy and there’ve only been a few games I could have watched even if I’d wanted to. But I regret missing this one. Especially because I agree with Jovelic 100% regarding Houston: “I hate this place to be honest” 

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Eddiedeschain

I honestly feel like Jake Davis should be below Radoja and Bassong on the depth chart at this point. He might hustle a bit more than both but he just doesn’t gel with the other guys as well. I also love that Bartlett tries to progress the ball in a variety of ways but man that kid needs to work on his reaction time in transition and in the box. He seems like he’s slow to figure am those quick actions moments out. He’s young yet obviously but still, it’s a burden. I love that Pulskamp looks to be improving his positioning and is getting hands on more shots but ffs can someone teach him not to spill blocked shots into the middle of the box? Especially catchable ones? I still think this team needs a whole new back line, save maybe left back, and a higher quality 8 next to Manu in order to consistently compete near the top of the table again, but they have some pieces.

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Howlie2

Bassong??? Really…dude has shown nothing. Davis has played maybe 2 games in the midfield this season. I think he is the 8 this team needs. I agree on the back line though. I also think this team needs a DP RW that is a creative influence.

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